They stood and cheered Friday as the powerful engine in the No. 88 Ford blew in a ball of grayish-blue smoke as the defending Winston Cup champion, who led 150 of 200 laps last June, warmed up for a qualifying run.

Besides that mocking celebration, the biggest cheers were reserved for record-setting pole-winner Bobby Labonte and Ricky Rudd, the man he knocked off the top spot.

Moments after Jarrett's Ford coasted silently back to the garage area, teammate Rudd set a qualifying record of 189.021 mph on the 2-mile, high-banked oval.

That broke the mark of 188.843, set last August by Ward Burton. Rudd's speed buried the June race qualifying record of 186.945 by Jeff Gordon last year.

But Rudd was one-upped by Labonte, who calls the Michigan track his favorite oval.

''When the crew told me what we ran, I was like, 'Well that is just truly amazing.' I don't know how that happened,'' said Labonte, who picked up his first pole of the season and the 19th of his career.

''We just changed a few things on the car and we kept getting a little bit better. We made a couple of adjustments there for the weather or for the track conditions, we thought might be better. It blew me away.''

Labonte, the 45th of 46 drivers to making qualifying attempts on Friday, also blew Rudd's record away with his 189.883.

''I'd probably be more frustrated if it was closer, but Bobby really beat us by a bunch,'' Rudd said. ''We'll be right on his rear bumper when the race starts.''

Jarrett, who was second-fastest in practice behind Rudd, said, ''Going into turn three, I felt it and then it just let go. We'll just have to be ready to race.''